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My favorite quote from the article "When told that some people believe that the material covered at the workshops is unrelated to Aikido, Meyer Goo's answer was short and to the point -- "Who are these people, did they train with Ueshiba Sensei?"

My favorite was when he got up and went to Dan and said in front of us "I never thought I would feel Osensei's power ever again. What you are doing is very important. Don't stop. No matter what they say." I suppose that coupled with your favorite quote "Who are these people, did they train with Ueshiba Sensei?" Really gets to the point doesn't it?
Your favorite quote was the exact same thing a teacher I know (who also trained with Osensei) said about Dan's work.

Meyer seems like a real cool cat, can't wait to read more of what he has to say. As for me, I stand by my words and then some. I mean, I live in Japan for Pete's sake and now... what can I say? Nothing that I've experienced over here compares to this, it all seems so... empty. I'll be coming back to Hawaii for more as much as I can. I keep going over and reworking my personal goals regarding this training, the hardest thing for me right now is 'keep it simple dummy". I gotta put in my time with basics. Lots of slow basics. "DO NOT get bored with this!" keeps bouncing around in my head. Roger that.

The other thought that leapt out at me was "Good lord! Does my a$$ really look that big?"

Nice documentation! Thanks for posting, Chris. Hopefully, more of that to come, in due time, regarding the others to whom we have access who've had first-hand experience with Ueshiba and Tohei.

Scott -- Meyer, despite being barely mobile due to his surgery and age (moreso due to the former), still packs a wallop!

Hopefully you've been able to recruit at least one or two other push-testers to help spell the wife (there is often a honeymoon effect with this type of training, both for the practitioner and those who have to live within close proximity of the quaintness of it all).

Nothing that I've experienced over here compares to this, it all seems so... empty.

Yeah I know how you feel. The funny thing is that in my training I have always been searching for this ..even though I did not know I was. Once I found "it" I knew that's it!!! That's the thing I have looking for! As for training "straight" Aikido, its now like eating bland food ...with no spice or seasonings in it...goodbye salt.....adios paprika.....

I remember one pivotal event in my training that stuck in my head. At a training session I was told I was using too much muscle and to relax. I realized I could not move how he wanted. I then asked "How do I do that?" After a blank stare for a bit he stated "Just train more." Thanks for the advice.....

How many of us got this answer?
How many of us have been banging our heads against the wall trying to achieve this 'relaxed power'? How many years in the traditional route would it have taken?
10 years?
15 years ? .
30 years?
If so how much relaxed power would you have?
a little?
a medium amount?

Nothing????

Nothing is guaranteed in training .....except hitting the mat.

The "secret" is now in the open. With hard work and dedication this relaxed power is available to us now...give or take a couple of years.....

Keep up the great posts...
We are also having this "empty feeling" as we realize how incomplete is our aikido waza (and the idea of what it could be like). In some ways, it has given us a new perspective on how great aikido was and a path back to "is". In other ways, it gives us the confidence to give back what is not ours (to claim as an art) and focus on what is. In yet other ways, it puts pressure to better teach aiki because now there is a method of verifying what is going on. I believe all of these things to be positive for aiki training.